Some background: I have had Rusty as a student for two years in two classes his junior year, in three classes during senior year. We have traveled to Europe together with an eight piece musical group last summer and do a great deal outside of school. I probably know him better than most teachers get to know any of their students. But I don't know his routines. This will give me some insight into what the daily routine of a dedicated student musician is. Music will be incorporated, but it will not be exclusive to our contact, as it usually is. I met Rusty at his house at 7:25 and he drove me to school. We parked right near the corner of Worthen Road and Waltham Street across the street from the school. We walked to the school, Rusty carrying his smallish (compared to many) book bag and his bow case. Because his bag is smallish, and I'm carrying a laptop, he felt it unnecessary for me to carry his bag. It's not a huge burden. We went straight to room 133 where he has Honors Orchestra. The room is incredibly crowded, people have to crawl over each other, chairs and music stand racks to get set up. He deposited his books in a corner, got his music from the cabinet and took the bass from the cover and got set up for rehearsal. As a bassist, he stands in the back of the room through the entire rehearsal. People greet each other, but considering that there is a room full of people playing instruments, it is remarkably quiet. The director is able to speak in a quiet, respectful voice and deliver the directions for the beginning of rehearsal. The orchestra is rehearsing the first movement of the Tchaikovsky Violin concerto - first rate, professional quality literature, featuring Lisa Park - an outstanding player. (Rusty just had a note passed to him from one of my students in the band who also plays in the wind section of the orchestra. It is unsigned, but I believe it is from Allison Burson: Over-achiever extraordiaire! It says, "Excited for today? Have fun!) This rehearsal is much quieter than my rehearsals, in terms of extraneous conversations happening. I am envious and wonder how I could more closer to this in my rehearsals. During the rests in the music, Rusty leans on his bass, and looks very comfortable with the instrument, indicating that he spends a good deal of time with it. I spent most of the rehearsal looking over Rusty's shoulder. With 12 minutes left in the block, the first movement was completed and the orchestra moved to the third movement. The sun comes streaming in through the window in the back of the room making the situation a little uncomfortable for people to look around and follow the conductor or see each other Rehearsal ends with three minutes left in the block, permitting the students time to pack up and clear the room. At 9:10, with 20 minutes left in the period, Rusty asks Mr. Kollen for another piece of paper on which to write, indicating he knows more than he thought he did or that he is gifted in the area of spontaneous, superfluous verbal invention. (I know he's good at that in music, but there it's well informed and strongly considered!) As this is a class of seniors, when they finish the test, they are dismissed. Rusty finished at 9:24 and rather than leave, he sits and reviews a paper that was returned (A-) on the summer reading. We leave at 9:26. Rusty goes to the registrar to have a transcript sent to Berklee and check through his folder. From there were go to the newly renovated J building to room 824 (formerly known as 334). Here we will have physics with Mark Zagaeski. Information is put on the board about the days procedures and there is some interaction between individual students and Mr. Z. regarding labs due and other things. Again, there was plenty of time to get to class, but we did start early. Rusty completes an activities sheet designed to help demonstrate Newton's third law. Mr. Z designates tomorrow a clean up day to finish incomplete work. Presumably, the move has interfered with the class and they are getting acclimated to their new surroundings. Rusty checks out his notebook to see where he stands and what he needs to get done. He indicates that he is a bit behind, but enjoying the class and generally doing well in it. Students go to the board to begin putting up solutions to problems. While that is going on, Mr. Z. talks about the Newton's third law sheet. I find that I remember the principles and can get the correct answers to questions, but I can't remember the math, symbols or formulas! While the problems, explanations, and discussions are going on, Rusty follows, quietly, on his work sheets, taking notes where appropriate. Things seem clear to him, as he asks no questions.

There is a danger of being in classes where I know the students. I just received another note from music students Lizzie McGlinchey and Ilana Kessler, it reads: "Hi Mr. Leonard! We're passing you an note so you'll feel like a popular student (and because physics is BORING!) We love Dr. Z, though, and his cute cell phone holder thingy. Don't worry, only 25 more minutes! Lizzie & Ilana" We head to TP6 in the temporary classrooms for Pre-Calculus with Lori King, and again are there in plenty of time. To the left of the board the lesson objective is placed along with the homework. She puts four problems on the board and ask the class to find the general solution to the problems. The asks that homework gets placed on the desk to be checked while the problems are being done. The problems are: 1. Ô=cos-1(.91) 2. X=cos-1(-0.1) 3. Ô=sin-1(.53) and 4. x=sin-1(-.63). (Ô is my best theta symbol) I am clueless. The fact that students now use calculators regularly, I find to be a completely appropriate use of technology. It was cheating when I was in school. Problems are presented and the solutions are offered in a clear, sequential way and I remember and understand. At 10:50 the heating/ventilation system kicks on, I have more difficulty hearing, even though Ms. King is projecting well and very clear in her questions and diction. The constant noise is distracting. I presume that it will begin to disappear with time. It turns out that it is blowing cold air, so Ms. King turns up the heat. The fan noise continues. Rusty, as he did in Physics, remains engaged, but quiet. (At 10:57 the fan goes off.) Now we go over the answers to the homework and procedures are discussed. Ms. King announces that we are breaking up into groups to discuss theproblems and she will come to check in. She also has candy for Valentines' day for the class! The fan comes and goes again. I will move into Rusty's group. Rusty works with Matt Bock. Since Rusty was absent yesterday, they go over the previous day's homework. This seems particularly useful and Rusty's answers are generally correct and by working with Matt he gains conceptualclarity. I have to believe that Matt benefits from giving the explanations as well. The bell rang at 10:20 and Rusty picked up his quiz from last week (C+) and we moved on to Honors Jazz Combo in 131. I went to 133 to pick up his bass, but forgot the bow, music and electronics. Rusty got them while I used the student bathroom next to Commons II. This is actually the bathroom I usually use because there isn't a faculty bathroom anywhere near the music rooms. The substitute/student teacher played a recording of the piece the group was working on today: Billy Strayhorn's Chelsea Bridge. The rehearsal began. The piano player was missing and the teacher (ME) was absent. This is another class where Rusty stands the entire time, holding the bass. We have now had 5 straight classes with no breaks. In this class, Rusty asserts himself more as a leader. He is clearly respected and looked up to by the other students. Across the room a group of 10 music students eat lunch and chat quietly. They do not distract the performers or the proceedings of the class. (One of them is the aforementioned Allison Burson: Over-achiever extraordinaire!) Rusty takes the lead in the discussion of the performance of the piece and recommends that they listen to it again, because everyone was setting up during the previous playing. Again, musical suggestions and leadership come from Rusty. While he has been engaged in all of his classes, this is clearly a place where he is most comfortable and has a great deal of expertise. It is not only mentally, but physically taxing. The instrument itself must be wrestled to get a good sound. I sat in an unaccustomed place in this class: right next to the bass. Sonically a very different perspective as well. in this class, if I were in school, but would have probably blown off the reading, except to skim through it just b before the text and would have passed, but just barely. While the students are taking the test, I read the materials given me. Looking through them, I find evidence of teaching and material worthy of college courses and realize that these

students are really being intellectually challenged in this class. As my family lives in various parts of the south, I find the reading fascinating and look forward to having the time to go through all of it over vacation. In high school, I enjoyed math as was good at it. I am completely lost in the trigonometry involved in these problems. Rusty continues to take noteswhile the problems are solved on the board. After the problem set is discussed, the class moves to ropes. Dr. Z. pulls out a rope in the shape of a hangman's noose, which is quickly un-knotted and he begins to set up the next concept. Pulling on a rope from opposite ends with scales attached. Rusty verbally responds with the correct answer. Rusty volunteers to be involved in a tug-of -war with Julie Martin. Rusty wins the initialbattle. The question for homework is: why? And to be Julie/Rusty specific. The bell rings at 10:25. General observation: As teachers, most of us have a place we belong. A place to keep our coats and other things. Students carry everything with them, including coats, hats and gloves in this weather. Lockers are inconvenient and usually not used at all. The layout of the campus is most unfriendly in terms of establishing a physical sense of belonging for students. This must be done by the environment we set up in our classrooms and administrative offices. Mr. Kollen's class had wonderful posters and decorations up. I found them really engaging. I need to work to establish better decor in my room. Construction and temporary quarters are obstacles to this: for students and faculty alike. The bell rings but the class is in the middle of working on the piece and elects to stay and finish what they are doing rather than go to lunch. It makes me realize how lucky I am to work with the students I have. Rusty begins to pack up and he tells me that he heard that his last class is canceled so he is essentially done for the day. He doesn't want to commit to that until he can confirm the veracity. He has his first nourishment of the school day in the form of grapefruit juice. It is 12:26 and E block is next and Rusty usually has a free block. We are going to find out if Mr. Brown is indeed out today. During lunch, he listens to music and talks about it with Zach Jauvtis. We walked to the H building to check on his English class, we found the canceled class sign on the door. At this point, I asked Rusty what he would usually do on a day like this. He said that on a day when he has class, he usually gets lunch and spends E block in a practice room, preparing for his lesson. If he has the last block canceled, he would normally go home, have lunch, do some homework, and practice for his lesson (about 11/2 - 2 hours) Then he goes to a bass lesson from 3:30 - 4:30, then teaches a bass lesson to a middle school student from 5:00 - 6:00. Following that, he is going to Symphony Hall to attend an open rehearsal of the Boston Symphony tonight. So, at that point, we walked back to his car and he drove me to his house, where I picked up my car and went back to school and he continued, as outlined above, with his day. It is clear that Rusty is really a music major at school. I was impressed that Rusty was very serious about his other classes, knowing that music is his present and future. General observation: The five minute passing time is sufficient to get to and from any point on campus, if it is a priority. There are occasional traffic jams and tie ups, especially around the commons at lunch, but it can be done. The students must eschew social interaction when there is a particularly long trek, but there is time for a quick conversation if the distance is not too great. There are only rare and extreme cases when a student will require more time: cleaning up a lab, putting away equipment or instruments, the finishing touches on a test, a conversation with a teacher, but these can be handled with a pass, if needed. Around lunch some travel routes can be crowded and it may take a bit longer, but never more than another minute. I would recommend that the occasional tardy of less than a couple of minutes would be handled with leniency, but that teachers crack down on later and more chronic tardiness. If getting to class on time becomes a priority, it can be easily done. • Jeff Leonard •